Founded in 1972, IIASA is an international scientific institute that conducts policy‑oriented research into problems that are too large or too complex to be solved by a single country. Problems like climate change that have a global reach and can be resolved only by international agreement. Or energy security or population ageing, which are national issues with international ramifications for every country. As an independent research body, IIASA examines such issues and devises strategies for cooperative action unconstrained by political and national self‑interest.

Some 270 mathematicians, social scientists, natural scientists, economists and engineers from over 40 countries carry out research at IIASA in Laxenburg, Austria, at the heart of Europe. These range from world-renowned scholars – four Nobel Prize laureates have worked at IIASA – to young scientists just embarking on their careers. In addition, IIASA-related research networks around the globe collect and process local and regional data for integration into IIASA’s advanced scientific models. Through such scientific collaboration IIASA also builds bridges among countries.

Warren Sanderson, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York) and Sergei Scherbov, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

The idea of raising the retirement age is not popular – most people resent being told they must work for longer. But with life expectancies increasing and people enjoying higher quality of life at older…

Warren Sanderson, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York) and Sergei Scherbov, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

New research we’ve done into ageing shows that the strength of your grasp may also be one of the most useful ways to measure your true age. Different measures of physical abilities can be assessed to determine…

Balancing energy security and emissions reduction: even more complicated than this.
Bruno Fahy/EPA
April 16, 2014

With tensions running high in Ukraine and the release of the third part of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, energy security and climate change are on governments’ agendas. Specifically, how to reduce…

This Russian-built nuclear power plant in India may be one of many soon appearing in developing countries.
Rafiq Maqbool/AP
December 11, 2013

UN inspectors descend on Iran this week to visit the Arak heavy water plant, and engineers at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plants in Japan attempt one of the most challenging nuclear salvage operations…